Power operated hatch cover



Nov. 13, 1956 GREER ET AL Re. 24,238

POWER OPERATED HATCH COVER Original Filed Feb. 9, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet lFig.

2 mmvroxs J: 45 30 3v JEAN NERCJER /M\XM AJTURNEY Original Filed Feb. 9,1946 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

R r Ema? A m m n F N I M M A M 3M V. B

United States Patent Oflflce Reissued Nov. 13, 1956 PoWER OPERATED HATCHCOVER Edward M. Greer, Great Neck, and Jean Mercier, New

York, N. Y., assignors', by direct and mesne assignments, to G. M. E.Corporation, Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Original No.2,491,261, dated December 13, 1949, Serial No. 646,696, February 9,1946. Application for reissue January 30, 1956, Serial No. 562,374

15 Claims. (Cl. 160-188) Matter enclosed in heavy brackets [1 appears inthe original patent but forms no part of this reissue specification;matter printed in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

[This invention relates to power operated doors of all kinds and moreparticularly to doors having a motivating device and controls mountedwithin the doors to move with the doors] With marine hatch [door]covers, since the hatchway lies in a horizontal plane and the hatchcover doors or panels are necessarily very heavy, there is a great dealof trouble in lifting these doors out of the hatchway opening L][usually] Usually the hatch doors are lifted with a derrick or hoist andstacked somewhere out of the way. [When the doors are placed over thehatch opening, it is necessary to support them at opposite ends of eachdoor with a cross beam] It is among the objects of the invention toprovide a hatch cover assembly which with but a simple control operationmay readily and rapidly be moved between closed and open positionwithout the need of a derrick or hoist or other ships gear.

[An object] A feature of this invention is to provide [one or moredoors] a hatch cover with [in which] a [retracting] motivating devicemounted within one or more of the doors or panels forming the cover [isintegral with the door or doors].

A further [object] feature of this invention is to provide pairs ofdoors that contain a retracting device in which all components are[integral] integrated with the doors, except the power connectionnecessary to supply the force to a motivating device.

A still further [object] feature of this invention is to provide aplurality of doors that are moved to open or closed position byhydraulic motors, which are supplied with fluid under pressure from ahydraulic pump that is in turn driven by an electric motor and in whichall components are mounted within the doors.

Another [object] feature of this invention is to pro vide a pair ofpivotally' joined doors or panels in which one end .of the pair of doorsis hinged to an opening and the :opposite end of the pair of doors issupported on rollers mounted on horizontal supporting beams and in whichtwo opposed hydraulic cylinders are mounted, one in each door, theirpistons being connected to a [the] pivotal or reaction member betweenthe doors to provide a closure of the doors when the pistons are at oneend of their stroke and a full opening of the doors when the pistons areat the opposite end of their stroke.

A further [object] feature of this invention is to provide one or morepairs of retractable doors that are pivotally mounted on one side of ahorizontal opening and supported by rollers on the opposite extremitiesof each pair of doors and in which the motivating mechanism is selfcontained within the doors.

[A still further object of this invention is to provide one or more pairof retractable doors that areinterconnected and further may be extendedto an aligned po- 2. sition or retracted to a side by side parallelrelationship] [A further object of this invention is to provide one ormore self closing doors in which the actuating system is mountedintegral with the doors, and in which the actuating system is connectedto a hinge element intermediate of each pair of doors] A still further[object] feature of this invention is to provide a power actuatingdevice mounted in one or more pair of hatch door covers with a singlecontrol to retract said doors to a side by side parallel relationshipand to extend said doors to an aligned horizontal position covering saidhatch.

A still further [object] feature of this invention is to provide a powerstorage device mounted in one of a pair of hatch door covers to providethe motivating force to retract said doors to an open position and toextend said doors to a closed position.

Other objects may be apparent by referring to the accompanying detaileddescription and the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a hatch cover incorporating thefeatures of this invention,

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of the power system mounted withinthe doors, and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a typical hatch door cover.

Referring to the figures there are illustrated a plurality of [doors]hatch cover doors or panels 30 in Figs. 1 and 2, horizontally mountedover a hatch opening 31. The hatch [doors] cover panels 30 have a powermotivating device 22 mounted therein. The power motivating device 22 isillustrated in Fig. 3 which is comprised of a fluid reservoir 1 [in]which has a filter 2 [is built] therein. A supply line X is connected tothe outlet of the filter 2 and is'provided with a shut-oil valve 3. Thesupply line X is, in turn, connected to a fluid pump 4. The pump 4isfdriven by an electric motor 5 and said motor 5 is controlled by amotor starter 6 which is, in turn, controlled by a switch 7. The starter6 is also opened or closed by a pressure switch 8. The pressure switch 8is connected by means of a fluid line to a pres sure output line Y ofthe pump 4. The pressure output line of the pump 4 is provided with acheck valve 19 to permit fluid flow in one direction. An accumulator 9of any standard design is provided such as that illustrated, theaccumulator having [to store fluid under pressure, in which] a shell [isprovided] with a deformable gas chamber to allow storage of fluid insaid shell at a predetermined pressure. This accumulator 9 is connectedto the pressure output line Y of the pump 4. Another check valve 10 isprovided in the pressure line Y and that is, in turn, connected to aselector valve 13. An auxiliary accumulator 12 of similar design toaccumulator 9 is connected through a manual check valve.

11 to the same pressure line Y connected to the selector valve 13. Arelief valve 21 is connected to the same pressure line Y to limit thepressure that may be stored in accumulator 12 or supplied to theselector valve 13. A gauge 18 is provided to insure the storage of anoperating fluid pressure. The selector valve 13 is also connected bymeans of a return line Z to the fluid reservoir.

The selector valve 13 is of a standard design having four ports asindicated in Fig. 3. Poppet valves control the flow of fluid througheach port and the puppets are controlled to be opened or closed by themanually op erated means [13A] illustrated. Thus, the manual control[13A] may be placed in either of two positions. When in the position [1]indicated, the aligned ports will be opened to each other [.1 Thus[thus] the fluid from the line Y will pass directly through the valve toa line 23, While the fluid in a line 24 will be connected directlythrough the valve 13 to the line Z. Likewise, when the manual member ismoved to its opposite position [2,] the diagonally positioned ports willbe connected. Thus, the fluid from line Y would flow through to line 24and the return fluid in line 23 would flow through to the return line Z.A plurality of hydraulic actuating cylinders 14 are connected to thelines 23 and 24, the line 24 being connected to one end of allcylinders, while the line 23 is connected to the opposed end of allcylinders. A thermal relief valve 15 is connected to the lines 23 and 24so that when an excessive pressure is produced in either line the fluidwill be relieved through a return to the line Z. The thermal reliefvalve is similar in construction to an ordinary relief valve, such asthat illustrated at 21. The pressure switch 8 is provided to break thecircuit through the starter 6 to the motor 5, thus an indicating lightmay be provided which will be on as long as the motor is operating, andwill be off whenever the pressure is excessive or whenever the switch 7is opened. The reservoir 1 is also provided with a drain valve 17.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 there is illustrated a hatch opening 31having a cross beam 32 at either side thereof. A plurality of hatchcover panels or doors 30 are positioned in alignment over the hatchopening 31. The doors 30 run the length of the opening 31 and bear onthe cross members 32. The plurality of doors are hinged to one side ofthe opening 31 by a hinge member 33 afl'ixed to the jamb of the opening31. The doors 30 are provided with an intermediate pivotal orarticulating member 34 at either end of each pair of doors positionedbetween each succeeding pair of doors 30. A hinge 35 is provided betweeneach succeeding pair of doors. The articulating or pivotal member 34 ismounted by means of a plate 36 to the lower side of the doors 30 and hasa pivotal pin 37 therethrough. The plate 34 is triangular in shape beingprovided with three apertures 38, 39 and 40. The pin 37 passes throughaperture 38 and a pair of opposed cylinders 14 are mounted in opposedrelationship within the doors 30. They may be supported by structuralmembers of the door in any fashion, such as illustrated in Fig. 2 sothat the piston is free to move and the cylinder is mounteid [held] in[a fixed] position within the door 30. In the aligned position, asindicated in Fig. 2, the cylinder 14 must have its piston in a retractedposition and thus the piston rod 41 is connected by means of a pin 42 tothe aperture 39, while the opposed piston rod 41 would be connected bymeans of a pin 42 to the aperture 40. Thus, when a motivating force issupplied to both pistons 41 the movement of the piston rods 41 away fromthe cylinder 14 will result in a force in which the components arenecessarily upward, this is due to the fact that their connecting pinsare above the center line thrust, thus the pivotal member 34 will bemoved upward and since the door 30 is hinged or pivoted at 33 the firstdoor will be moved upward in a pivotal movement until the pistons 41have completed their extended stroke and the door 30 has reached theposition indicated in dotted lines and at the same time the adjoiningdoor 30 will have reached a parallel position indicated in dotted lines.It will be noted that the adjoining door is provided with a roller 45which bears on the cross beam 32, thus during the retracting action theroller moves from its position indicated in Fig. 2 to the dottedposition indicated. It is apparent, referring to Fig. 1, that a secondpair of doors 30 hinged to the first pair by the hinge 35 with the samearticulating mechanism mounted therein would perform in similar fashionto fold in the same parallel relationship indicated in dotted lines inFig. 2.

[Referring to Fig. ,1 the reservoir 1 is mounted integral with the door30. Likewise, the motor 5 and pump 4 are supported on or mounted intothe door 30 and the accumulators 9 and 12 are strapped within the door36 by structural bands or other supporting means and the component partsillustrated in Fig. l are connected to perform, as shown in Fig. 3.]

In operation the reservoir 1 is provided with the hydraulic fluid to beused and the motor 5 and its starter 6 are connected by means of anextension line 50 to a plug 51 which may be connected to an externalsource of power. The accumulators 9 and 12 are filled at the air valveend with a gas at a predetermined pressure. The mechanism is now readyto function. For operation the switch 7 is closed causing the motor 5 tobe operated and the pump 4 to be ready to pump fluid to the system. Theshut-off valve 3 is opened, thus the fluid from the reservoir 1 passingthrough the filter 2 will be supplied to the pump 4 and the pump 4 willsupply fluid under pressure through the check valve 19 to theaccumulator 9 storing fluid pressure within the accumulator 9 and,likewise, the fluid pressure passing through the check valve 10 will bestored in the accumulator 12 passing through the manual check valve 11.The fluid pressure in the supply line Y will pass to the selector valve13 where it is controlled by the manual means illustrated [,1 Thus,[thus] in one position the fluid pressure passes through the line 24 tothe same end of all hydraulic cylinders 14 connected to the line 24thus,]. The cylinders 14 will have their piston rods 41 extended which,as already explained, will cause the doors 30 to be folded into a re--tracted position. During this stroke of the piston 14 the fluid in theopposite side of the piston 14 will be expelled through the line 23 towhich all pistons 14 are connected and, thus, the return fluid will passthrough the selector valve 13 to the return line Z which, during theoperation of the pump 4, will cause the fluid to be circulated back intothe supply line Y. It is apparent that the doors 30 may be extended fromtheir open position, indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2, to a closedaligned position by reversing the selector valve 13, thus the fluidunder pressure from line Y will be redirected to the line 23 and thus tothe opposite end of the cylinders 14 cansing the piston rods 41 to beretracted, thus causing the doors to move outward on the rollers 45until they reach an aligned position, as indicated in Fig. 2. It is,likewise, true that during this stroke of the piston 41 the fluid on theopposite side of the piston in each cylinder 14 will pass through theline 24 back through the selector valve 13 to the return line Z in thesame fashion as already described. Any excessive heat developed in theoperation of this device which causes a rise in fluid pres-- sure inline 23 or 24 will be relieved through the thermal relief valve 15. Thismaximum pressure is necessarily above the operating pressure used incylinders 14.

It is apparent that any defect in the system, such as the reservoir 31being drained by the fluid supply demanded or the failure of the motor 5to operate would leave the doors 30 in an inoperative position.Therefore, the storage of an operating pressure in the accumulator 12permits the full retraction and full extension of the doors 30 byoperating the manual check valve 11 so that the pressure stored thereinmay be supplied through the selector valve 13 in the fashion alreadydescribed.

Various groupings or pairs of doors may be used to provide the necessarycover according to the size of the hatchway to be covered. For instance,a small hatchway may be covered with a pair of doors or panels [singledoor] having [a] an associated pivotal plate. [associated with it, or asdescribed a pair of doors may be used.]

I A larger hatchway may be covered with two pair of doors,

1 pairs to be retractable and extendab le over most any size hatchway.

Another feature of this invention is the fact that a single door mayhave the complete power system mounted therein. In such case there willbe a single motivating means and a pivotal actuating plate associatedwith the door. Also one or more doors are removable as an operativeunit, except for the hinge pins to mount them to the hatchway. Whenremoving a single door the pivotal pins to connect it to thearticulating members between each door are removed, and the plug that isnormally connected to a power line is disconnected, the door or doorsmay then be quickly removed for repair or maintenance of the componentparts mounted therein. A complete unit having the same component partsmay be quickly installed with the same pivotal pins for continuedoperation of the hatchway cover.

A further feature of this device is the positioning of the main hingefor the group of doors. The hinge may be mounted a suflicient space backof the supporting framework to permit the doors to be retracted to anested relationship clear of the opening.

Various modifications of the articulating members may be used withoutdeparting from the spirit of this invention. Various forms of powerdevices may be incorporated within the doors to operate with thearticulating members that are mounted between the pairs of doors withoutdeparting from the spirit of this invention, thus various changes andmodifications may be employed to accomplish a similar result withoutdeparting from the spirit of this invention, and this invention shall belimited only by the prior art and the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

[1. In a door articulating system, a door, an articulating elementmounted to one side of said door, a motivating means integrated withsaid door, said motivating means being connected to said articulatingelement, said door being pivotally mounted in an opening, an externalconnection to supply power to said motivating means, said motivatingmeans including means to swing said door to either of two extremes, openor closed] [2. In a door articulating system, a door, an articulatingelement mounted to one side of said door, a motivating means integratedwith said door, said motivating means being connected to saidarticulating element, said door being pivotally mounted in an opening, apower storage means for said motivating means, mounted integral withsaid door, said motivating means including means to swing said door toeither of two extremes, open or closed] 3. In a door articulatingsystem, the combination including a pair of doors, an articulatingelement mounted between the doors, a fluid motor mounted in each door inopposed relationship, power means integrated with said doors to supplythe fluid motors with a motivating .force, said fluid motors beingconnected to the articulating element, an external power connection tosupply said power means, said motivating means including means to swingsaid doors to either of two extremes, open or closed.

4. A retractable cover for an opening which comprises a. plurality ofpairs of doors retractable and extendable from a common hinge attachedto one side of said opening, a support on each end of said opening,articulating elements mounted between the doors of each pair, hingesmounted between each pair of doors, a pair of rollers for each pair ofdoors mounted one on each end of the door at the corner farthest fromthe hinge about which that pair is pivoted and bearing on said supportsto roll in alignment with the configuration of said opening, a fluidmotor mounted in each door and positioned in opposed relationship ineach pair of doors and connected to the said articulating elementmounted between the associated pair of doors, power means integratedwith said doors to supply the fluid motors with a motivating force, anexternal connecting element to supply said power means, switching meansto control the motivating force to the fluid motors to operate the doorcovers in one direction to open, and means to reverse said switch meansto operate said door covers in a reversed direction to close same.

5. In a folding door of the type having a pair of panels with one edgeportion of one panel hinged at the doorway and the opposite edge portionof the other panel guided in a single plane, articulating elementssecured to the other edge portion of the panels, a motor integrated witheach panel and connected to an associated articulating element and saidmotors mounted to operate in opposed relationship, a two way switch anda power source to control and operate said motors to selectively causethe panels to extend into an extreme position in alignment in the singleplane.

6. In a folding door of the type having a pair of panels with one edgeportion of one panel hinged at the doorway and the opposite edge portionof the other panel guided in a single plane, articulating elementssecured to the intermediate edge portion of the panels, a pair of fluidmotors integral with each panel and connected to an associatedrticulating element and said motors mounted in each panel to operate inopposed relationship, a power unit and a two-way switch thereinintegrated with said panels to control and operate said fluid motors toselectively cause the panels to extend into an extreme position inalignment in the single plane.

7. In a folding door of the type having a pair of panels with one edgeportion of one panel hinged at the opening and the opposite edge portionof the other panel guided in the configuration of the opening,articulating elements secured to the intermediate edge portion of thepanels, a pair of motors integral with each panel and connected to anassociated articulating element and said motors mounted in each panel tooperate in opposed relationship, a power unit and a two-way switch andintegrated with said panels to control and operate said motors toselectively cause the panels to extend into an extreme position coveringthe opening.

8. in a holding door of the type having a pair of panels with one edgeportion of one panel hinged at the side of the opening and the oppositeedge portion of the other panel guided in the plane or planes of theopening, articulating elements secured to the intermediate edge portionof the panels, a pair of motors integral with each panel and connectedto an associated articulating element and mounted to operate in opposedrelationship, a power source and a two-way switch therein to control andoperate said'rnotors, to selectively cause the panels to extend into theconfiguration of the closed position.

9. In a folding door of the type having a plurality of pairs of panelswith one edge portion of the first pair of panels hinged at the side ofthe opening and the succeeding pair of panels hinged to the oppositeedge portion of said first pair of panels and said opposite edge guidedin the plane of the opening, said succeeding pairs of panels havingtheir opposite edge portion similarly guided in the same plane of theopening, pivotal elements secured to the middle joint of each pair ofpanels, a pair of motors integral with each panel and connected to anassociated articulating element and said motors mounted in each panel tooperate in opposed relationship, a power unit and a two-way switchtherein integral with said panels to control and operate said motors toselectively cause the panels to fold into a nested open position.

1-9. A cover assembly for a hatchway, comprising a pair of panels eachhaving an outer and an inner face lying in sicle by side relation insubstantially a horizontal plane when they close the hatchway, meanspivotally mounting an edge of one of said panels with respect to suchhatchway, pivot means the axes of which extend along a straight linesubstantially parallel to the plane of the hntchway, connecting theadjacent edges of said panels for folding movement thereof betweenclosed substantially horizontal position and open substantially verticalposition, means to guide the opposite edge of the other of said panelsin substantially a horizontal plane, reaction means for said pair ofpanels, said pivot means being substantially at the inner face of saidpanels and pivotally mozznting said reaction means, and movable meanscarried by said cover assembly operatively connected to said reactionmeans to react thereagainst in order to efiect movement of said panelsabout said pivot means, between closed and open position, said movablemeans being located under the outer face of said panel to be positionedbetween the outer faces of said panels when they are in open position,said reaction means, each of said pivot means and said movable means allbeing lo cated within the perimeter of said panels when in closedposition.

11. The combination set forth in claim 10 in which said movable meanscomprises a plunger in a cylinder pivotally mounted at one end to one ofsaid panels, said plunger being operatively connected to said reactionmeans and movable at right angles to the pivot mount of the latter andmeans hydraulically to operate said plunger.

12 A cover assembly for a hatchway comprising a pair of panels, eachhaving an outer face and an inner face lying in side by side relation insubstantially a horizontal plane when they close the hatchway, meanspivotally mounting an edge of one of said panels with respect to suchhatchway, pivot means, the axes of which extend along a straight linesubstantially parallel to the plane of the hatchway connecting theadjacent edges of said panels for folding movement thereof betweenclosed substantially horizontal position and open substantially verticalposition, means to guide the opposite edge of the other of said panelsin substantially a horizontal plane, a plurality of reaction means forsaid pair of panels, pivotal mounting means on the underside of saidpanels for each of said reaction means, said pivot means. mounting saidreaction means, a plurality of hydraulic units associated respectivelywith said reaction means, each of said units being pivotally mounted toone of said panels, and having a movable plunger operatively connectedto an associated reaction means to react thereagainst in order to efiectmovement of said panels about their pivotal connection between closedand open position, said hydraulic units being located under the outerface of said panels to be positioned between said outer faces when thecover assembly is in open position, said reaction means, each of saidpivot means and said movable means all being located within theperimeter of said panels when in closed position.

13. The combination set forth in claim 12 in which said hydraulic unitsare substantially identical, said plungers are movable at right anglesto said pivot means and in which fluid under substantially the samepressure is applied concurrently to said hydraulic units.

14. The combination set forth in claim 12 in which said reaction meansare symmetrically located with respect to the end edges of said panelsand said hydraulic units are 8 substantially identical, each plunger isaligned with a corresponding reaction means and each plunger is movableat right angles to the axis of said pivot means and in which fluid undersubstantially the same pressure is applied concurrently to saidhydraulic units.

15. A cover assembly for a hatchway, comprising a pair of panels eachhaving an outer face and an inner face lying in side by side relation insubstantially a horizontal plane when they close the hatchway, meanspivotally connecting the adjacent edges of said panels, pivot means, theaxes of which extend along a straight line substantially parallel to theplane of the hatchway for folding movement thereof between closedsubstantially horizontal position and open substantially verticalposition, means to guide the opposite edge of the other of said panelsin substantially a horizontal plane, a reaction member for said pair ofpanels, said pivot means mounting said reaction member, a pair ofhydraulic units positioned in opposed relation under the outer face ofsaid panels and pivotally mounted respectively on said panels and inalignment with said reaction member, each of said units having a plungermovable toward and away from said reaction member and operativelyconnected thereto to react thereagainst in order to efiect movement ofsaid panels about their pivotal connection betweenclosed and openposition.

16. The combination set forth in claim 15 in which there is a pluralityof pairs of hydraulic units in opposed relation, each with an associatedreaction member, said reaction membersbeing pivotally mounted on an axiscoaxial with the axis of said pivotal connection, said reaction membersbeing synunetrically located with respect to the end edges of saidpanels.

17. The combination set forth in claim 15 in which there is a pluralityof pairs of hydraulic units in opposed relation, each with an associatedreaction member, said reaction members being symmetrically located withrespect to the end edges of said panels, the plungers of each pair ofsaid hydraulic units being movable at right angles to the axis of saidpivotal connection and aligned with the associated reaction member.

References Cited in the file of this patent or the original patentUNITED STATES PATENTS 1,172,562

